Battle of the Rainbow Star Cluster
:For the comparable battle in the original series, see Battle of the Rainbow Star Group. The Battle of the Rainbow Star Cluster was an ambush of the Earth battleship Yamato by forces of the Great Garmillas Empire late in the Garmillas-Earth War. Occurring nearly a month after a crushing defeat at Balun, the battle became one of the empire's last chances to prevent Yamato from completing its journey to the planet Iscandar. It also became an opportunity for the legendary Garmillas general Erich Domel to restore his own and his family's damaged reputations, and for the empire's ruler, Abelt Dessler, to make a decisive political maneuver against Iscandar. Preparations Following the destruction of thousands of Garmillas ships at Balun and thousands more stranded far from home ("Over the Black Light"), Dessler concluded that Yamato had become the most serious threat facing his empire. However, the one commander he most trusted to defeat the Earth ship had been arrested on the false charge of scheming to assassinate Dessler and was awaiting execution. He released Lieutenant General Domel from prison, dismissed his conviction, and granted the general his request to resume the campaign against Yamato that he had almost completed once before. In exchange for victory, Dessler would reduce the sentence handed down to Domel's wife, Elisa Domel, for collaborating with opponents of the regime. Before doing that, Dessler asked Domel to recover a special passenger from Yamato, the princess Yurisha Iscandar. In preparation for the battle, the Imperial Guard returned to Domel the trusted commanders of his 6th Armored Space Division and his super dreadnought flagship Domelaze III, and placed the subspace submarine UX-01 at his disposal. The empire's military resources were constrained, though, and the Imperial Guard provided only four older carriers from the Homeland Defense Fleet crewed by "children and old men," as Colonel Wemm Heidern described them. Domel also called upon Minister of Defense Welte Talan for added support, and secured a prototype instant matter transporter and an asteroid mining missile. Despite the limitations imposed upon him, the general was able to devise a strategy that he was confident would succeed. The final step was anticipating his opponent's next move, and he predicted that Yamato would take a dangerous shortcut through the Rainbow Star Cluster. Once preparations were finished, Domel ordered his forces into the cluster. Meanwhile, the Yamato had entered the Large Magellanic Cloud and was poised near the Tarantula Nebula as the crew considered how to proceed. Admiral Juzo Okita was convinced that navigating around the massive nebula would rob them of precious time, and would allow the Garmillas military to organize more effective attacks. He decided to take the shortest approach, directly through the Rainbow Star Cluster at the heart of the nebula. Immediately upon warping into the cluster, Yamato was buffeted by intense ion turbulences and lost the ability to use radar. Chief navigator Daisuke Shima stabilized the ship and set course for a relatively calmer region of the Rainbow Cluster. Since an attack seemed likely, Okita ordered the ship's Cosmo Falcon fighter squadron to fly ahead and scout for enemy activity ("They're Here"). Opening Phase The Cosmo Falcons leave the Yamato's area to hunt down the warships, and fighters before they can attack their mother ship. Domel having already launched a diversionary squadron draws the fighter escort away. With the Humans now distracted General Domel orders a several fighter squadrons to launch from his fleet to begin the real attack by using a warp device he teleports the sqaudrons to the Yamato's' '''position, the fighters catch the crew of guard and to destroy the ''Yamato's ''guns and radar fins atop its bridge tower, while another fighter (launched from the ''Darold) fires a drill missile into the Yamato's Wave Motion Gun control room. Two of the Yamato's main guns are destroyed as well as several AA guns and the radar system is disabled. Akira Yamamoto takes off in her Cosmo Zero and fights of the attackers. The Garont heavy bomber carring the drill missile completes it mission and the drill enters the Yamato's wave motion gun chamber (depressurizing the room in the process). However that pilot was found by Akira Yamamoto and killed. With the radar destroyed, the UX-01 surfaces near the Yamato to release a "sucker fish" craft that secretly attaches itself to the battleship, so that a strike team can board the ship and kidnap Yurisha Iscandar from the Yamato. Boarding the Yamato The sucker fish attaches to the Yamato and its strike force boards the ship. They encounter a few crew members and kill them. The strike force encounters Yuria Misaki (ironically controlled by the person they are looking for) and security officer Toru Hoshina. Hoshina is shot and Misaki faints. After a few minutes Lt. Mori arrives and finds Misaki on the floor and the strike team. The strike team mistakes her for Yurisha and knocks her out before loading her into the ship. Susumu Kodai joins a security team trying to fight of the attackers. Norren (one of the Zalti boarders) is handed Yuki and ejected into the sucker fish and ordered to fufill the mission, and bring honor to Zaltz. The security team then kills the remaining boarders. Kodai runs to the hanger boards a fighter to try to stop the sucker fish, but by the time he was launched the UX-01 was disappearing beneath the dimensional line. Space Battle A recall order issued to the fighters as they are engaging the diversonary force. On the way back to the ship a few of the fighters find one of the Garmillas Carriers - the Bulgrey. These fighters engage the ship, one is destroyed but it's misslies hit the ship. The other fight fires it's missiles destroying this carrier's flight deck and one of it's engines, which then is destroyed. While the bomb in the Wave Motion Gun count down timer was getting close to detonation, Domel not wanting to have repeat failures with the Yamato orders torpedo bombers to take off the make sure the Yamato is destroyed. These bombers warp out and deploy their torpedoes many hitting the ship and sending people out of the ship to their deaths. However the pilots were immediatly attacked by Kodai. The Cosmo Falcons also return and wipe out the attack force. A paniced pilot tells Domel about the force being wiped out and how the bomb in the Wave Motion Gun has failed to detonate before he is killed. The Fall of Domel When the explosives fail to destroy the Yamato he takes this as a sign from the gods that he should destroy the ship personally and orders his entire fleet to close in and attack the Yamato. The Darold arrives first and fires all of it's guns at the Terron ship. However thanks to Analyzer, and Niimi's efforts they reverse the drill missile and sends it back to the Darold. A well placed shot from the Yamato's shock cannon detonates the missile destroying the Darold and the carrier Shuderg that was attempting to dodge the blast. The Lanbea gets hit and falls into an ion storm before it's apparent destruction. The Domelaze III now alone exchanges fire with the Yamato, However what Domel failed to realize was that he flew into an ion storm. He acknowledges that his ship is doomed and orders his crew to abandon ship as this was his flight now. However nobody leaves the ship, Domel detaches the bridge and attaches it to the Yamato's third bridge. After he docks General Domel hails the Yamato to congratulate Admiral Okita in defeating him. After exchanging complements Domel self destructs his ship. Fortunately for the Yamato their shield were repaired and the ship survived the battle. Aftermath The badly damaged Yamato holds a memorial service for those whose lives were lost in the battle including the 3 Zalti boarders. Itou and Yabu are presumed dead but in reality are hiding in a Cosmo Seagull transport. Princess Yurisha observes this service and makes a few comments about the war. Kodai is sent on a scouting mission to bring back resources to repair the ship. Yurisha tags along in the Seagull. However the world Kodai and Yurisha are heading for is a Garmillas prison world. The attempted hijacking by Itou set's in motion the human interaction with the soon to be happening riot. Lt. Yuki Mori awakes in a holding cell aboard the UX-01 and is informed of her destination, Prison Planet 17, and then Dessler. The'' Lanbea'' survived the battle and limped away from the fight before being rescued by the carrier Mirangal. Rainbow Star Cluster, Battle of the